Glen Moss

At 41 years old, Glen Moss has this physical status:

Glen Robert Moss (born 19 January 1983) is a New Zealand goalkeeper who competes for Newcastle Jets FC and New Zealand at international level.

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Club career

Moss made his NSL debut with Sydney Olympic of the Sydney Olympic Club, winning three games in the competition's last season.

Moss, who e-mailed the eight founding clubs of the A-League, attracted the attention of the New Zealand Knights, who agreed to a one-year contract after watching him play for Sydney Olympic. Moss was back-up to Danny Milosevic in his first season with the Knights, making seven appearances in addition to being on halftime twice. In their debut season, New Zealand scored only 6 points, and Moss' contract was not renewed after the season.

Moss signed a free transfer with Dinamo București, Romania, after impressing with the national team over the summer. In the first round of UEFA Cup qualification for the first time, Moss made his debut for Dinamo, beginning both legs against Maltese club Hibernians in July. Moss opened the league against Național București on July 30th, but Florin Matache was brought to the club for the club's next games. Moss moved out of Romania during the winter break, describing the switch abroad as a "disaster." Instead, Moss was the only senior keeper to stay on and was firmly third-choice for the second half of the season as Dinamo went on to win their 18th title.

Moss signed the Wellington Phoenix, the Wellington Phoenix, as part of a team of All Whites players in August 2007. Moss was supposed to back-up Mark Paston after being inserted just before Wellington's first game after Paston sustained a injury in preparation. He made 20 appearances out of the 21 league games and established a reputation as a top goalkeeper, and was deemed one of the top shot-stoppers in the league in his first season. In his first season with Wellington, Moss made 78 saves to lead the league, finishing third in last place with the league's worst defense. However, he played in for the first time in 2008–09, but he and fellow All Whites goalkeeper Paston shared the starting jersey, making only 13 appearances and keeping 3 clean sheets.

Moss piqued attention from Melbourne Victory, who had a superb showing for club and country, prompting great anticipation. During the 2008–09 season, the move to Melbourne was announced but it will take place after the season. Moss attracted attention from clubs in South Africa for his 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, which took place in South Africa, before kicking a ball for Melbourne. Moss became the club's starting goalkeeper in the first 14 games of the season. However, Mitchell Langerak's lackluster results midway through the season saw him overtaken by young-gun Mitchell Langerak as the Melbourne No. 1. 1. Moss was on the bench for the remainder of the season, including the Finals, in which Victory lost on penalties to Sydney FC. Moss got off to a rocky start in the club's season in the 2010 AFC Champions League, a 4–0 loss to Kawasaki Frontale, and then left the team early in the season.

Moss signed a two-year contract with Gold Coast United, replacing Jess Vanstrattan, who had been to the Central Coast Mariners, on July 19, 2010. He made his debut against Brisbane Roar on August 8th. As the club finished in fourth, qualifying for the Finals, Moss played 27 of their 30 matches in the regular season. Moss had a career-high 11 clean sheets in the regular season, one behind Brisbane's Michael Theoklitos for the league lead. Danny Vukovic, who only started half of Wellington's games this season, had a 77% save percentage. Moss was named to his first and only A-League Team of the Season for his efforts, earning a spot on the bench behind Theoklitos. Moss kept a clean sheet in their first game, a 1–0 win over Melbourne Victory in the finals. In the Preliminary final, Gold Coast defeated Adelaide in the next round but lost 1–0 to Premiers Central Coast.

Moss began the 2011–12 A-League with a goal kick against Adelaide on December 16, leaving the game and being replaced by Jerrad Tyson. Despite being hopeful that he will return before the season's end, Moss wound up missing the remainder of the season, and Gold Coast United folded at the end of the season, causing Moss to search for a new team.

He had signed a three-year deal with Wellington Phoenix, A-League's club, returning to the club after three seasons away. Moss spent six games in the club's first season, which included the last two games of the club's inaugural manager, Ricki Herbert. Moss was named Wellington's number one goalkeeper after Mark Paston's retirement. In the 2013-14 A-League, Moss made 25 starts for Wellington, while the Phoenix placed ninth in ninth. As Wellington finished with the league's lowest defense, Moss posted their lowest save percentage at 65%, just below Nathan Coe of Melbourne Victory.

Moss made 27 appearances in the 2014–15 A-League for Wellington as a fourth finisher in the team's seventh seasons. Moss finished the season with eight clean sheets, second only to Sydney FC's Vedran Janjetovio. Wellington lost 2–0 in the quarterfinals to Melbourne City, effectively ending their season. Moss appeared in all 27 games for Wellington in the 2015-16 A-League, racking three clean sheets as the club finished in ninth. Moss was named Player of the Year and Player of the Year at Wellington at the end of the season.

Moss made 22 starts in the 2016–17 A-League for Wellington, notching five clean sheets while missing a handful of games due to international service. Wellington finished seventh, six points shy of reaching the Finals. Moss made his 200th A-League appearance on February 9, 2017, becoming the 18th player to do so. As Lewis Italiano started the last four games of the season, Moss was left on the bench for the run-in.

Moss made 110 appearances in his second season at Wellington, including 23 clean sheets.

Moss signed with the Newcastle Jets of A-League, his fifth different team in the league, on May 15th. He was manager Ernie Merrick's first signing with the club, and he and his ex-manager at Melbourne Victory and Wellington were reunited. He started his Newcastle stint as Jack Duncan's backup plan. On Sunday, Moss made his Jets debut against Melbourne Victory, swapping in for an injured Duncan. Before Duncan returned to the starting lineup on Monday, Moss had a nine-game streak in the team, finishing with two clean sheets. Newcastle finished second in second, qualifying for their first finals since 2010. Duncan suffered a quad tear during Newcastle's semifinal victory over Melbourne City, and Moss saw out the last hour of the 2–1 victory. On May 5, Moss began the Grand Final with a 1–0 loss to Melbourne Victory.

Duncan left the team for Saudi Arabia at the end of the season, and Moss was named starting goalkeeper. Moss made 22 starts out of 27 in the 2018-19-19 season, but he missed a handful of games after being forced to leave the club's game against Adelaide at halftime due to a gash in his thigh. He had the second-best save percentage of the season at 75%, behind Melbourne Victory's Lawrence Thomas. Newcastle also played in two games in the 2019 AFC Champions League qualification, but the club fell short of qualifying the group stage after losing to Kashima Antlers. Moss signed a new one-year contract on February 26 to keep him with the club until the next A-League season. Newcastle finished the A-League season in seventh, five points outside the finals.

On January 10, 2020, Moss tore his calf against Sydney FC and was forced to leave the game after being replaced by Lewis Italiano. Newcastle had the league's lowest defense at the time, and Moss had the lowest save percentage at 54%. Moss announced his retirement, but it would be late in the season. Moss sat on the bench after recovering from injury, while Italiano remained in the starting lineup. Moss was given a five-minute run-out off the bench by new Jets boss Carl Robinson, who saw out a 2–1 victory over Melbourne City on March 23. This was also his 250th appearance in the A-League.

International career

Moss was born in Australia and wasn't on the radar for New Zealand until his origins were revealed to a reporter while Moss was at Sydney Olympic. Moss has been nominated for national recognition at Under-20, Under-23, and All Whites in the United States.

He was selected for the U-23's in 2004, 2004 to compete in the 2004 OFC Men's Olympic Football Tournament, the qualification tournament for the 2004 Summer Olympics.

In October 2003, Moss was called up to the New Zealand squad for a friendly match against Iran, but he did not receive his first cap until a 1–0 win over Malaysia in February the following year. As the All Whites defeated Georgia 3–1, Moss was in goal for New Zealand's tour of Europe in the summer of 2006.

Moss was invited by New Zealand's 2009 Confederations Cup squad to South Africa, where he played in all three games against Spain, South Africa, and Iraq, where he kept a clean sheet and earned the All Whites a 0–0 draw, New Zealand's first point in a major FIFA tournament.

Moss was fined a four-match World Cup suspension for swearing at referee Lencie Fred in a death-rubber 2010 World Cup qualification match against Fiji. New Zealand tried to appeal the ban's length but decided not to file their appeal on time. Mark Paston was recalled by Mark Paston for the two World Cup play-off matches against Bahrain at the end of 2009. Moss will miss the first two group games after New Zealand's qualification for the World Cup.

Moss was chosen in New Zealand's final 23-man squad to compete at the World Cup on May 10, 2010 but saw no action as a result of a reversal of roles. Paston also appeared in all of the All Whites' three games, leaving the team unbeaten, but not in the final game against Paraguay.

Moss did not participate in any of New Zealand's games at the 2012 OFC Nations Cup, which was the second round of qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Despite the fact that Paston missed the country's first game due to a sickness, Jake Gleeson was recalled instead, who started the remaining games of the tournament. Moss started the two games against Tahiti as New Zealand finished third in the group, setting up an inter-play-off with Mexico. Following Paston's retirement in 2013, Moss was chosen to begin both legs of the play-off, as well as the country's three friendly matches in the previous months. New Zealand lost 3–9 over the two legs, missing out on qualification.

Three friendly matches in 2014, including a goalless draw with South Africa, in which Moss captained the team, ended his playing days for the national team until 2017. He appeared on the bench for all of 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying and the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, as well as the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, behind Stefan Marinovic. On February 19, 2018, Moss announced that he would leave international football.

New Zealand's target ranked first in the New Zealand goal.

Career statistics

CS = Clean Sheets

1 – Includes A-League final series results 2 – AFC Champions League results are included in season-starting at group level (i.e. ACL 2010 and A.League seasons 2009–2010, etc.

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